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Thursday, December 18, 2008

Not all Christmas cookies are filled with butter... at least of the dairy variety! For me, no cookie plate is complete without something peanut-buttery, and when I found this recipe on an olive oil producer's website I was intrigued enough to save it into my favourites for those (common) times when I don't have butter or margarine hanging around the kitchen. That was ten months ago! I obviously baked cookies of all kinds in the interim, mind you - but for some odd reason this old-fashioned looking and insanely simple cookie slipped through my baking radar. But that all changed this past weekend, when I came across a half jar of peanut butter, a bag of oats and some leftover cocoa powder in my pantry. Icing sugar is pretty much the reigning sweetener these days in our kitchen (what with variousshortbreads and macarons being made!) so it was good fortune that this recipe called for it as well.

What I was missing from the original recipe was the chopped peanuts. Andrew however, being the wonderfully resourceful man he is, came to the rescue by happening on the 2 tablespoons or so of leftover Skor bits I had from the apple cookies I made (way back in October!). I don't know if they really made a difference to the cookies, since it looked like they just melted into the dough, but they smelled absolutely divine out of the oven and I didn't hear any complaints from my tasting squad!

Chocolate - Peanut Shortbread Rustica

Makes 16 Wedges

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup uncooked oats

¼ cup brown sugar

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tbsp cold coffee

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup finely chopped, roasted and salted peanuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F, and grease a 9” springform pan, lining the bottom with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, cocoa and icing sugar.

Whisk in oats.

Add brown sugar, olive oil, coffee and peanut butter, beating until well blended (dough will be very stiff).

Add peanuts, mixing well, then pat the mixture evenly and firmly over the bottom of the prepared pan.

Score into 16 wedges.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before the removing sides of the pan.

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 175.0

Total Fat: 12.1 g

Cholesterol: 0.0 mg

Sodium: 63.9 mg

Total Carbs: 14.7 g

Dietary Fiber: 2.3 g

Protein: 5.0 g

In case you missed it, Susan (of FoodBlogga fame) is hosting a Christmas Cookie Event (and roundup here) on her blog until the 21st. These cookies are joining the party... are you??